Transfem
A community for transfeminine people and experiences.
This is a supportive community for all transfeminine or questioning people. Anyone is welcome to participate in this community but disrupting the safety of this space for trans feminine people is unacceptable and will result in moderator action.
Debate surrounding transgender rights or acceptance will result in an immediate ban.
- Please follow the rules of the lemmy.blahaj.zone instance.
- Bigotry of any kind will not be tolerated.
- Gatekeeping will not be tolerated.
- Please be kind and respectful to all.
- Please tag NSFW topics.
- No NSFW image posts.
- Please provide content warnings where appropriate.
- Please do not repost bigoted content here.
This community is supportive of DIY HRT. Unsolicited medical advice or caution being given to people on DIY will result in moderator action.
Posters may express that they are looking for responses and support from groups with certain experiences (eg. trans people, trans people with supportive parents, trans parents.). Please respect those requests and be mindful that your experience may differ from others here.
Some helpful links:
- The Gender Dysphoria Bible // In depth explanation of the different types of gender dysphoria.
- Trans Voice Help // A community here on blahaj.zone for voice training.
- LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory // A directory of LGBTQ+ accepting Healthcare providers.
- Trans Resistance Network // A US-based mutual aid organization to help trans people facing state violence and legal discrimination.
- TLDEF's Trans Health Project // Advice about insurance claims for gender affirming healthcare and procedures.
- TransLifeLine's ID change Library // A comprehensive guide to changing your name on any US legal document.
Support Hotlines:
- The Trevor Project // Web chat, phone call, and text message LGBTQ+ support hotline.
- TransLifeLine // A US/Canada LGBTQ+ phone support hotline service. The US line has Spanish support.
- LGBT Youthline.ca // A Canadian LGBT hotline support service with phone call and web chat support. (4pm - 9:30pm EST)
- 988lifeline // A US only Crisis hotline with phone call, text and web chat support. Dedicated staff for LGBTQIA+ youth 24/7 on phone service, 3pm to 2am EST for text and web chat.
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For me, I never really enjoyed bottoming, mostly because I don't get much pleasure from prostate stimulation. But overall I consider myself vers/switch from an overall perspective.
I also might be an odd case because I'm agender but physically had dysphoria around having a penis as well as social dysphoria around having to mask as male. I'm still not overly femme, but I feel like it's easier to publicly mask femme than masc due to some toxic traits I don't enjoy emulating or having to listen to like talking about women as sex objects. Though masking femme has it's own issues. Also, I have since had bottom surgery and I do miss penetrating with a penis sometimes, but it's still possible to "top" using toys, strapons, oral, etc., and that works fine for me.
As for erections, as I was on HRT for longer and longer, the erection and orgasm changed, but it took time. Erections become more fluctuating just like a cis-woman's clit erections or natural lubrication. More stimulation is required anf being careful not to overstimulate is necessary. Erections still happen when needed, it's just that it doesn't need to stay that way the entire session and trying to keep it that way will just result in frustration from overstimulation and the arousal troughs and then not being able to get one when you're ready for using it. This can make topping a challenge in some cases with partners not used to trans-people, so partners have to be understanding that having or not having an erection is not a 100% indicator of arousal like it is for cis-men. Instead, communication and foreplay is required more. Again, very similar to cis-women.
On the plus side, orgasms also change for the better, IMHO. They require a little longer to build and achieve, but last a lot longer and eventually you can have more than one after only a short rest rather than needing a longer period for things to build back up.
As a very broad statement, I feel like testosterone builds the libido outside of sexual encounters until you are about to burst and then it takes very little to trigger a short, intense orgasm. Estrogen builds libido very little and usually doesn't get to a point where you are so extremely anxious that you will do anything for an orgasm, but during stimulation, it then needs to build more in order to get to that orgasm state and because of that, it's a less sharp, instant orgasm, but it peaks and stays there as long as you're still receiving stimulation. That is way more pleasurable to me.
I explained it to someone recently that liked it said this way, but testosterone drives with anxiety for an orgasm. Estrogen drives with desire for stimulation. So it's a need vs desire kind of thing. Of course, it's not a binary thing, everyone has a balance of both whether naturally or through HRT, not 100% one or the other. Finding the right balance with HRT levels is what you have to figure out over time. And if you have an orchiectomy or vaginoplasty/vulvoplasty that will change things as well and require rebalancing. Some people go light on the HRT and some go heavier.
Having a good doctor that understands and and analyzes the changes rather than following sometimes outdated guidance is really helpful. My first doctor was really good, but she moved on and now my doctor isn't that experienced, but I have enough experience with my own body, and she listens to my experiences, so it works fine. For example, I never started anti-androgens and never needed them to reduce my testosterone, so that reduced side effects. I never would have tried that without my first doctor's experience, and it doesn't work for everyone, but once you start anti-androgens, you usually have to stick with them until surgery. And later I found that I wasn't having enough effect from the 200-ish pg/ml peaks of estrogen levels and found research from Mayo clinic and others that said that was out of date due to old estrogen HRT that risked cancer at higher levels. Really, 300-400 pg/ml peaks is more effective and once I gave that data to my current doctor, we have been following that ever since, with more success.